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I was never a big Specialized fan until I saw a mate’s Tarmac Giro d’Italia Celebrazione which impressed me enough to buy the Astana replica frame pictured below and this became my main steed for most of last year.

I really loved the ride qualities of the Tarmac with the smoothness reminding me somewhat of my old Colnago M10. For some bizarre reason, known only to the God of Crazy Things, in early January this year I took a major head stagger and sold the bike, an action I regretted almost immediately. So when I saw this red/black/hyper Tarmac online at a significantly reduced price a couple of weeks ago, I had to pull the trigger right away. Not quite Belgian flag but sometimes in the right light the hyper colour does look a little like yellow! Still think I prefer the look of the Astana replica a tad more but this one ain’t too shoddy either. Full build list:

As a team, I'm not a fan of Astana at all, but I always thought their bikes were the best looking ones of the Specialized team models. I photographed my friend's Astana Venge last year and it has so many sweet, hidden details.

As a team, I'm not a fan of Astana at all, but I always thought their bikes were the best looking ones of the Specialized team models. I photographed my friend's Astana Venge last year and it has so many sweet, hidden details.

Nice Venge. Agree, despite Astana's dodgy past their Speshs were the best looking in the peloton. BTW, nice wall - a good wall is hard to find!